


Sounds Good Feels Like Love

by moonbands



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Angst, Cake, Cashton, Fluff, Lashton - Freeform, M/M, Mashton, Muke - Freeform, OT4, i mean tons of fluff, lots of angst too, malum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 18:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5174042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonbands/pseuds/moonbands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically, if you were to write a story based on all of the songs in their new album, it just happened to all of the boys in 5 Seconds of Summer. With a little bit of teenage angst mixed with the loving arms of their best friends, the band members find themselves falling deeper a little bit each day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sounds Good Feels Like Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pnkrckclffrd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pnkrckclffrd/gifts).



> This is probably the longest thing I've ever written. It took me two days. Which is actually saying something because I had almost no writer's block. Hope you enjoy!

Money.

Luke has an unhealthy obsession with spending money. Now, you might automatically think that he's self-absorbed and maybe took "Treat yo-self" a little too seriously, but that's not the case at all. Being a teenage boy with his own money in his pocket might make it seem like he would spend it on himself, but he doesn't. In fact, he does the opposite.

It all started when he watched his friend Calum digging through his pocket for some change to buy himself a cup of coffee. The dark-skinned boy hadn't been sleeping very well lately, and he really needed a pick-me-up if he was going to spend the day not lounging around on a bus or in a hotel room. As he pulled out a few dollars for the cup of coffee, he placed his order and gave the money to the cashier. To his embarrassment, he didn't have enough money to buy the coffee he wanted.

"It's okay," Calum hears as Luke pushes him aside, pulling out his wallet to give the cashier the money needed for his coffee. Calum is sure that if he was white, there would be a dark red blush coating his skin at this moment. Calum stands sheepishly as he waits for Luke to order. 

"You didn't have to pay for me," Calum tells Luke when he turns back around. They both walk to the end of the line of waiting customers to receive their drinks.

Luke smiles at Calum, raising his hand to brush it off. "We're friends. My money is your money." And yeah, it sounds weird coming out of his mouth, but it's not like he is lying. The band shares pretty much everything else, so it's no big deal that he paid for Calum's drink.

"Well," Calum pauses, seeming to be at a loss for words. "Thanks." Luke nods at him as he hands him his coffee, and Calum adds on another thanks.

The next time Luke spent his money on Calum was when they were out celebrating. Neither of them really knew what it was they were supposed to be celebrating, they just used it as an excuse to go drinking in a club.

They each show their IDs to many different baristas to the point where they go up for another drink and they aren't asked for their ages anymore. Luke and Calum both know their limits are being reached, so they slow down their drinking as the night goes on.

"I got it," Luke puts his hand over Calum's, effectively stopping him from paying for his Coca-Cola. Luke buys both of them one, and they bring their drinks to a table where the club isn't as crowded or as loud. 

"I'll have to pay for the next ones," Calum tells Luke, taking a sip from his soda. He feels his head all fuzzy and he thinks the bubbles from his drink have gone to his brain.

"Don't be silly," Luke laughs, taking a drink from his own glass. "Just consider it a gift."

And Luke likes the idea of that; gifting Calum with needless things. He doesn't say that out loud, though. He just makes a joke about waking up Ashton and Michael by coming back to the hotel piss drunk, and the space between them is filled with giggles and the super loud music of the club. 

After that, Luke finds himself more inclined to buy random things for Calum. Whether it be a 20 cent keychain he found at a gas station, or a new lighter, or a mug that says, "I love puppies" with cute drawn pictures of dogs on it, Luke has a hard time stopping. He doesn't really question himself until Calum sits him down for another coffee outing.

"These are so nice! How much were they? Oh my god, Luke," Calum babbles, immediately putting on his new sunglasses he found in the wrapped up tissue paper Luke gave him. Luke smiles at him softly as his friend grins back at him. "Why did you get me these? It's not my birthday for a couple months. You didn't break something of mine, did you?"

Luke laughs and shakes his head before opening his mouth to explain. Except, nothing comes out. He doesn't know how to explain. He doesn't know why he keeps buying these things for Calum. "I, um," Luke tries for the words, his face falling as he thinks of how weird it is to give your friend gifts all the time. "I just, uh, wanted to give you them. I knew how much you wanted them."

And that seems like a satisfying answer for Calum, so the older boy just nods and smiles.

Luke is careful with his money after that. He still buys Calum his coffee sometimes when he doesn't have the right amount of change, but his random gifts have stopped for the most part. 

That is until, well, he finds a really good deal on a pair of concert tickets. Now, he knows they're not just any concert tickets to Calum. They're probably the most significant concert tickets anyone could give him.

Calum stares at Luke in shock when he finds a slip of paper laying on the night stand in their shared hotel room. Luke stands shyly at the doorway, waiting for a response other than pretty brown eyes staring back at him.

Before he has a chance to register what's happening, Calum is tackling him in a hug, and they both land on the floor in a fit of giggles and gasping for breath. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Luke. Oh my god, you're the best person in the world." Luke has a hard time getting his confidence to go back down after that. "You're coming with me, right?"

Calum sits up from his spot on the floor to look at Luke's face. Luke smiles as he answers, "yeah." And then there's another round of hugs and thank yous, and Luke is laughing as he sits up.

"Why are you giving me this now? It's still not my birthday yet," Calum wonders. Luke has to turn his face to hide his blush that's threatening to creep up his cheeks.

"You're my best friend, and I wanted to do something special with you," Luke answers quietly. Calum looks at the side of his face for a while before smiling again, wrapping and arm around Luke's shoulders.

He gives a big kiss to Luke's warm cheek, causing Luke to become even more flustered. "Thank you!" Calum sings.

Luke thinks maybe he could start giving Calum more gifts again.

 

She's Kinda Hot.

Calum is furious, and he's not sure why. It becomes increasingly relevant when he goes partying with his friends the night before his concert with Luke. He figures that alone isn't a very smart idea, but he's a teenage boy filled with dumb ideas anyway.

What's really bothering him is that Michael ditched the rest of them as soon as they got here, and Calum has only seen glimpses of him since. He knows he should probably not care and just go have fun with Luke and Ashton, but he can't stop himself from being angry.

What only angers him more is finally seeing Michael an hour later, grinding up against a pretty girl. Calum's brain blurs out the loud music thumping through the room and turns to find Luke directly behind him, looking at Michael over his shoulder.

Calum does what his brain apparently thinks is best and grabs Luke's shoulder, pressing his body against his friend's and moving along to the music. Luke is still for a second, assessing the situation, and then moves with Calum, creating a less-than-innocent dance in a sea of dirty dancers. 

Calum's eyes never leave Michael as the night goes on, and he and Luke dance with each other probably poorly to anyone else's view. Calum notices Michael switch dancing partners every other song, and he wonders why he's leaving all these girls hanging. Calum also seems to be getting more irritated the prettier Michael's partners get. 

This was supposed to be a night of fun between the four of them, and so far, Calum is not having fun.

Luke leans in, and Calum almost jumps a foot in the air when he hears Luke say something in his ear. "I'm going to go get a drink, do you want to come with me?" Calum shakes his head and watches as Luke disappears in the crowd of dancing people.

When he turns back to Michael, he sees him with a beautiful girl hanging off his arm, and his lips pressed to her neck. 

Calum snaps. He walks straight over to Michael and slings an arm around him, smiling at him and the girl, who just looks offset that he joined them. "Hey, buddy," he greets Michael, pulling him to the side, forcing the girl to slip away. 

The girl looks angry for a second before simply rolling her eyes and moving through the crowd, joining another man to dance with.

"What the fuck, Calum?" Michael asks, pushing the arm off of his shoulders. He turns around to look at the girl, but she's already gone. "Didn't you see that hot girl dancing with me? What do you want?" Michael steps away from Calum, crossing his arms as he stares at him angrily.

"Just wanted to say hi, jeez," Calum mumbles.

"Well, thanks a lot. I just lost probably the hottest girl that might actually want to sleep with me. Fuck off, alright?" Michael yells, then storms off, leaving Calum feeling small as people push into his sides while dancing.

 

Hey Everybody!

Michael sits down on a bar stool at a pub not too far away from where the rest of his band is partying. He's on his second beer, and he already feels like his mind is fucked into oblivion. All he wants to do is go back to the hotel and sleep, but he has to remind himself that he's mad.

He can't really think of what he's mad at right now, but he knows it must've been something bad for him to leave his friends behind.

Once he finishes his drink, he takes out his credit card to give to the barista. The lady swipes it into the machine, but she turns back to Michael with a confused face. "Your card isn't working. Looks like you've maxed out your card. I don't think you have enough to pay for your second drink."

And, fuck, if his night could get any worse. He rubs his face with his hands and is about to offer his number and email to somehow pay the pub back, but then a hand is in his line of sight holding a credit card.

"I'll pay for it, it's okay," a familiar voice tells the barista. As she takes the card from him, he turns to find Ashton smiling softly down at him.

Michael sighs in relief. "Thanks, Ash. I'll pay you back, I promise."

"Don't sweat it, Michael. Let's just go back to the hotel," Ashton offers as he takes back the card from the barista and signs his name. Michael nods in agreement.

When they make it outside, Ashton calls over a cab, and they start their way to their hotel. Michael asks a question he hadn't thought of before, "what were you doing there?"

Ashton sighs and shrugs, but answers nonetheless. "I wasn't really having fun. My band ditched me, and I had been looking forward to spending the night with my friends. I was just lucky to find you at the bar."

Michael feels kind of bad. He didn't think about that. All he wanted to do was find a girl and take her to his hotel room to let out frustration, but he hadn't thought of how his friends would feel. He's actually a horrible person.

"I'm sorry, Ashton," Michael says, cuddling up to him as a form of apology. Ashton laughs and wraps an arm around Michael, probably figuring out how tipsy Michael is.

"It's alright. We'll just call it a night," he replies just as the cab pulls up to the front of the hotel.

 

Permanent Vacation.

Ashton wakes up the next morning at 5 am. Someone is calling him if the buzzing from his bedside table is anything to go by. He groans and picks up the phone, mumbling out an unenthusiastic "hello?"

"Ashton, Calum is sick, and you know how I get around sick people. Can you come help me, please?" Luke all but cries over the phone.

Ashton has to make his brain register the words before he's nodding, and he almost hangs up until he realizes he didn't even give Luke an answer. "Yeah, I'll be there in a few."

Ashton quietly crawls out of bed, trying not to wake up Michael. He knows he'll be as bad as Calum if he gets woken up as well.

It only takes a few seconds to walk down the hall to Luke and Calum's room, but he realizes he doesn't have a key, so he's forced to knock on the door. 

It takes a while for Luke to get to the door, and when he does, he immediately pulls Ashton inside and shuts the door behind him, pushing him in the direction of the bathroom. He leaves Ashton to do his thing, hiding his eyes from the sight at the toilet.

Ashton isn't awake enough to be mad at Luke, so he just saunters inside and kneels behind Calum, rubbing his back. Calum continues to be sick for about twenty minutes, then rests his head on the seat of the toilet. Ashton doesn't really have the heart to tell him how unsanitary that is. 

"Hey, buddy," Ashton whispers, knowing Calum's head could be killing right now. "Doing better?"

Calum makes a grunt and closes his eyes, but doesn't seem to be sick anymore. Ashton rubs his back for a few more minutes before standing up and filling a cup of water in the sink. He hands it to Calum, telling him to come back to bed when he's ready.

As he walks out, he picks up a trash can and carries it over to Calum's bed, setting it aside for when he comes out. Ashton sits on the side of Luke's bed, who looks up at Ashton with sleepy eyes as he cuddles further into the bed.

Luke pats the space next to him, motioning for Ashton to climb inside. Ashton does exactly that, pulling up the covers to his chin.

"Do you think he'll be okay to go to the concert?" Luke asks quietly, and Ashton sees the worry become etched into the younger boy's face. Ashton just now realizes how important the concert is to him.

Ashton sighs and looks at Luke's fingers poking out beneath the duvet. "If it's just a hangover, we can get him something to get rid of it, and he'll be fine by tonight."

Luke relaxes and closes his eyes. "I think it's a hangover. He had a lot to drink last night after Michael left."

Ashton kind of puts two and two together and guesses something happened between the two of them for them to be getting wasted.

Before he can ask Luke about anything, he feels his phone buzz in his pocket, and he pulls it out to see a text from their manager. It says they have an interview scheduled tomorrow at 9 am. Ashton sighs and slides his fingers through his hair.

As Calum very sleepily trudges back to his own bed, Ashton sits up. It's quiet for a moment as Calum gets settled in, and then Ashton says something he's been thinking for a while.

"I think, after the interviews tomorrow, we should just have a small band break. Kind of like a getaway with just the four of us."

Calum grunts again, and Ashton wasn't really expecting an intelligible response from him. Luke nods, his eyelids drooping as he yawns. "Sounds like a great idea."

 

Jet Black Heart.

Luke and Calum had a great time at their concert. It was one of Calum's favorite bands, but Luke knew some of the words to the songs. Even if he didn't, the energy was just so great that he didn't think he could have an absolutely horrible time. 

The two boys were giggly and tired from all of their jumping around. As they stumbled into Luke's room, their smiles slip from their faces as they took in the room before them.

There's a suitcase open across the room with clothes falling out of it. Well, not just falling out of it. Clothes were strewn all over the room, mostly on the floor but some on the dresser and the bed. There's about four Chinese takeout boxes littering the nightstand, and someone must've been drinking alcohol because it smells of cheap beer. The television is turned on to the history channel, and it provides the only light in the room.

"Are we in the wrong room?" Calum asks, moving back to check the door number. Before he can make it far, Luke has a hand on his arm and is pulling him back.

"No, we're not," Luke says quietly. He nods to the bed, where there's a lump that was hardly noticeable with everything out of place anyway. Michael's dyed hair is sticking out just a tiny bit underneath the duvet.

Luke steps over the piles of clothes and sits at the side of the bed, lightly rubbing Michael's back over the covers. He whispers quietly, not sure if his friend is sleeping. "Mikey?"

"Go away," he gets as a response.

"C'mon, Mikey. What happened in here?" Luke asks, looking up at Calum to see if he has any ideas.

The last thing he expects is Michael's form to be shaking, and a small whimpering sound comes from underneath the blankets. Luke pulls them away from Michael's face, and the boy immediately presses his hands to his wet face and buries it in his pillow. "I said go away," Michael mumbles. He doesn't make an effort to enforce it, though, because he knows they've already seen him crying.

"Mikey," Luke sighs, deciding to crawl under the covers and wrap his arms around him. Luke notices Michael is wearing pajamas, but he doesn't say anything about it or the fact that there are tons of clothes on the floor.

After a minute or so, Calum feels awkward just standing there as his friends have an emotional moment, so he crawls into the bed on the other side of Michael, laying his head on the pillow and looking at Michael's hair.

It's a little while longer when Michael calms down a bit that he turns to Luke. His eyes are red and his face is flushed and his eyes are puffy, but Luke is just happy to see his face. "I didn't mean to make a mess," he says shakily, glancing around the room. "I wasn't really thinking straight."

Luke reaches up and moves a strand of hair away from Michael's face. "It's okay, do you want to talk about it?" he asks gently. Michael feels Calum's fingers tracing over his back, and he knows he can tell his friends anything. 

"I just," Michael starts without actually thinking about what he is going to say. "Um, I'm not attractive? I mean, not compared to you guys. I don't look good in your clothes, I don't get all the girls." At the last part, his voice goes up, and Calum stops moving his hand. Suddenly, he feels really guilty for last night.

"I'm so sorry, Michael. I didn't know you felt this way. About that girl yesterday--"

"It's not your fault," Michael cuts him off, turning his face towards Calum. "I mean, yeah, I wanted to sleep with her, but that's kind of selfish, right? Sleeping with someone just because they're hot. What was I thinking, anyway? She was way out of my league."

Calum is quiet for a minute, feeling his stomach drop as he realizes just what Michael's talking about. "Shut up, you're perfect," he says, pulling Michael into a hug. Luke immediately follows after, creating a cuddle between the three boys. Michael shakes his head, ducking his face into Calum's chest. "Yes, you are. Anyone would be lucky to have you. You're so attractive, Mikey. I know probably a million girls that would want to hook up with you."

"And maybe half a million boys," Luke adds, smiling at Michael.

Michael can't help but smile back at Luke. "You guys are so stupid. Get out of my bed."

Calum and Luke only hug him tighter. It's maybe an hour later when Calum gets up to go to his own room, and Luke is about to get up to go to the other bed, when his fingers are caught by Michael's. "Um," Michael starts, dropping Luke's hand. His cheeks flush pink as he stutters, "would you, er, um, maybe--"

"I'll sleep with you, sure," Luke says before laughing at his words. He climbs back in bed, getting rid of his daytime clothes and throws them on the already-messy floor.

 

Catch Fire.

Calum gets awaken by Ashton at some ungodly time in the morning prodding his stomach. "Want to go to the gym with me?"

And, of course, why would anyone want to go to the gym first thing in the morning. Except, Calum can't say no to Ashton's hopeful face. He groans as he sits up. "What time is it?"

"It's 7 am, which gives us about an hour of working out before we have to get ready for the interview." Calum almost doesn't get back up when he plops back down on the bed.

About ten minutes later, Calum and Ashton are already spotting each other, their fingers brushing together with each lift of weights. When Ashton's done with his set, he stands up and lets Calum have his turn, using this time to catch his breath. "Where do you think we should go on our band getaway?" he asks, helping Calum lift as time goes on and his muscles are getting tired.

"You mean you didn't decide that yet?" Calum half wheezes out, resting the weights down and rubbing his hands together. Ashton shakes his head. Calum thinks for a minute, and comes up with a great idea. "We should go hiking on the mountains!"

"Yeah, I'm sure Luke and Michael would love that," Ashton laughs. He sits down at one of the huge exercise equipment pieces, the one where you use your arms to pull the bars towards the center of your chest. He starts doing a set, a light sheen of sweat already glimmering on his face. "We can go someplace secluded. I don't know, maybe like a cabin in the woods."

"That literally sounds like a horror movie," Calum points out, pulling his chin over the bar and moving back down. "In fact, I think there was a movie called Cabin in the Woods."

"Do you have any other ideas, Mr. I-can't-stay-in-the-woods-because-I'm-scared?" Ashton asks, huffing out at the end of his sentence. Calum rolls his eyes, and then shakes his head. "Cabin in the woods it is."

Calum thinks maybe he can use their band bonding time to make it up to Michael.

Calum is surprised when time passes quickly as they continue to excitedly chatter about their getaway. It's already time to go, and Ashton holds the door open for Calum as they walk through. But then again, that might've just been an excuse to slap his butt on the way past, causing Calum to jump about two feet in the air.

 

Safety Pin.

After their set of interviews, the boys all pack up and get in a car they rented for a week. Ashton had found a cabin about an hour away that was really cheap for how late they made their reservation. It isn't really ideal that it is an hour away, but they are in the city, so they figure it's the best they could get on such short notice.

They all put their bags in the car, and Luke gets in the driver seat with Calum in the passenger seat, leaving the back for Ashton and Michael. It's almost 7 pm and the sky is a dark blue as Luke pulls out into the street, their first step in getting away for a little bit.

Calum hooks up his phone to the stereo, and pretty soon The Used is blasting throughout the car as street lights pass over them. Calum is pretty much the only one singing along although Michael joins in sometimes when he remembers the words. Ashton is just staring out the window, watching the city passing by and thinning the further they drive.

The silence between the boys in the car grows after every song, and each of them are clouded with their own thoughts. Ashton turns to look at his best friends, meeting Luke's gaze in the mirror up front. He smiles softly, receiving a smile back. He looks at Calum, who has his eyes closed as he leans back in his chair. Ashton thinks he looks kind of beautiful in the low light. His dark skin matches with the street lights in the otherwise black night. He turns to Michael, who is staring out the window like Ashton was earlier. He notices Michael's fingers running over his bracelets, and he remembers what Calum told him about finding him in the hotel after their concert.

Ashton loves his boys. He'd do anything for them. "I'm glad we're taking some time off," he thinks out loud. His voice cuts through the car, and Calum and Michael turn to look at him. "I think we all needed a break."

He gets mumbled responses of agreement. They're not really as enthusiastic as he had hoped, but then again he kind of just told them they were going to be spending time in a cabin in the woods without asking them first. He didn't think they'd mind, though.

His thoughts are cut off by a very familiar beginning chord of a song, and his eyes immediately tune into Calum, who looks back at him sheepishly. "I like this song."

"You should," Ashton laughs.

It's almost dreadfully awkward in the car as Ashton waits for the lyrics to start. He prepares himself for them, his mouth opening as he screams out, "MY GIRLFRIEND'S BITCHIN' 'CAUSE I ALWAYS SLEEP IN!"

Ashton finds all of the other boys singing along with him, and they can't sing the next line without giggling. The car is filled with laughter as the song goes on.

Yeah, Ashton thinks, maybe a break can still have a little 5sos life in it.

 

Waste the Night.

As soon as the band gets to the cabin, they take their stuff out of the car and run inside. Well, three of the boys run inside while Ashton stands at the car, looking at the pretty cabin. 

It's not a very small cabin. It's two stories high with tall windows on each floor facing the front. Long green curtains block any passerby from looking inside. It's made out of a sweet, dark brown wood, and it looks very much like a log cabin a kid would make from Lincoln Logs. Green ivy grows along the sides, and honeysuckles are woven in between. It looks dark and luminous, but as the boys inside turn on the lights one by one, Ashton can't see how anyone could think a cabin in the woods would be scary. It's beautiful as it is, but then Ashton sees a glimpse of the lake behind it, and he knows he's done a good job. 

He picks up his suitcase, dragging it along the stones on the ground that create a sort of sidewalk up to the house. He opens the door, catching a glimpse of the inside, then closes it behind him. He leaves his suitcase there as he walks through the house.

Already, he sees a small kitchen and table that are shared in the same space as the living room, separated by a gorgeous black fireplace. It sits on red bricks, and the chimney cuts through the middle of the room, so there's a long tube going straight up to the very high ceiling.

Michael is already sitting on one of the couches in the living area, his phone lighting up his face as he types in the wifi password. Ashton rolls his eyes as he looks up and sees a balcony looking over the living area. The doors are open from the two bedrooms he knows are up there, and he can see Luke unpacking his stuff in one as Calum walks out of the other room, smiling at Ashton as he looks over the balcony.

"It's kind of small for bedroom situations, but it's nothing we can't handle. This place is cool," Calum tells Ashton, and he looks across the room to the big windows that take up almost the entire two story wall.

"The two couches in here are hideaway beds," Ashton says, but it falls on deaf ears as Calum runs down the stairs.

"Oh my god, that's a lake!" Calum screeches, hastily trying to open up the screen door at the back of the house. 

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Luke laughs as he makes his way down the stairs at a much slower pace than Calum. He stops beside Ashton, watching as Calum struggles to figure out how to unlock the door.

"What's you hurry, mate?" Ashton asks. Calum stops in his tracks, his eyes twinkling as he grins at them.

"We should go swimming!"

"Nooooo," Michael immediately groans. He sets his phone on his chest, looking at Calum like he's pained. "We just got here," he whines.

"C'mon! We have the whole week to be lazy. Can we swim?" Calum asks, moving his gaze to Luke and Ashton.

Luke turns to look at Ashton, who just shrugs. "I'm cool with it if you are," he tells Luke. Luke seems to think for a second, then turns to Calum and gives a shrug of his own.

"Sure, why not? The night's not over yet."

 

Vapor.

Just by luck, the boys brought their suitcases that they normally take on tour. This means that they each, thankfully, had a pair of swim trunks packed, although it had been a while since they used them, which was evident when Michael forgot what his even looked like.

The boys all ran outside with their towels hanging over their shoulders. Well, after Ashton had to help Calum unlock the door so they could actually get outside. They set their towels on the ground next to the lake, and Calum is the first to wade in.

It isn't very warm, especially when it gets to the stomach area. The boys all stand still for a few minutes as they get used to the water. Luke is the first to go completely under, and then he gets ahold of Calum's legs and pulls him under too. The two boys end up in a splash fight, a few random droplets hitting Ashton's face.

Ashton moves away from the pair, getting closer to Michael. Michael, however, fears his intentions and automatically moves away from Ashton. "Stay away from me, Irwin!" Michael yells, but smiles just the same.

"No way! You're just too irresistible!" Ashton laughs as he swims quickly over to Michael, clinging on to his side. Michael wraps his arms around Ashton, dunking him in the water, and Ashton comes back up sputtering and giggling at the same time.

"Time-out!" Luke yells when his face is completely soaked, and he can't see out of his eyes without water getting in them. Calum splashes him once more before swimming over to him, brushing Luke's matted hair out of the way. He smiles at the younger boy as Luke opens his eyes to find Calum a few inches away from him.

"Truce?" Calum asks quietly. He looks pretty with the moonlight reflecting off the water on his skin, and Luke can see little droplets on his eyelashes.

"Truce," Luke agrees, his eyes crinkling as he smiles. There's a moment between them where they're just smiling at each other, but it's completely ruined when Michael splashes both of them.

About half an hour goes by of the four boys just messing around. Eventually, they stop, and Michael heads inside, not long after followed by Ashton. It's just Calum and Luke, who is floating on his back with his eyes closed as Calum swirls the water with his fingers.

The night gets a little chillier, and Calum can already see his fingers pruning in the moonlight. He notices Luke shiver as a small gust of wind blows over his torso. Luke stands back up, and rubs his eyes before looking around and settling on Calum. He swims over to him, wrapping his arms around his friend.

"It's cold," Luke mumbles in the quiet night, his warm breath against Calum's shoulder. Calum mumbles an agreement as his fingers run over Luke's back. He stops when it causes Luke to shiver, and instead he just rests his head on his shoulder.

"You're warm," Luke continues talking, pulling away just slightly to look at Calum's face.

"You're about as warm as me," Calum argues, putting his hand on Luke's bicep. "Yeah, we're, like, the same temperature."

Calum hardly notices Luke moving closer until he feels his forehead against his. Luke moves his arms so that they're resting on Calum's shoulders, his fingers linking together at the back of his neck.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Calum stutters, trying to pull away but only dragging Luke with him. Their noses bump together, not hard, just a little brush.

"I'm just cold," Luke says quietly, moving so their chests are pressed against each other.

The air between them is still as another moment passes. Luke's eyelashes brush against Calum's cheek, and then their noses are bumping together again, and then Calum can feel Luke's breath against his lips. He's sure that one accidental move and they'd be--

Their lips brush together, and it's silent except for a few night frogs chirping in the distance. They stay there, not pulling away, but not really kissing either. Calum's breath is caught in his throat as Luke's lips move to the corner of his mouth, and then press a kiss to his cheek. Luke pulls away from him, and Calum immediately feels colder as he watches the boy swim towards the shore.

Tears spring to his eyes as Luke picks up his towel and heads inside. He feels like his chest has cracked open and all of his feelings come pouring out as soon as the glass door slides shut. Calum's furiously wiping away his tears, slowly making his way out of the lake and wrapping himself in his towel.

Calum sits down on the grassy ground and pulls the towel around his curled up body, staring out at the lake. The moon is only at a crescent, but it's enough light to shimmer off the lake as little ripples move through. Calum finds himself calming down as he stares at it, and he doesn't know how long he's out there. He's lost in his own mind.

 

Castaway.

The next morning arrives, and Ashton is the first to get up. He climbs out of one of the fold-out beds and tries to quietly make himself a cup of coffee, but it shouldn't really matter that much. Michael, the other boy sleeping in the living room, is a heavy sleeper anyway. 

As he remakes the couch so the boys could lounge on it later, he notices Luke come downstairs. He mumbles a rough "good morning" and heads straight to the coffee. Ashton figures the smell probably woke him up.

Ashton settles down on the newly made couch, taking a sip of his hot coffee. He wraps his hands around the warm mug, feeling content as he watches Luke pour a cup of his own.

When Luke is finished preparing his own cup, adding lots of creamer and sugar, he walks over to the sliding door, his glazed eyes peering outside. He takes a sip from his coffee, just watching the beautiful sun rising from behind the trees.

His eyes drift over to a colorful spot near the lake, almost hidden behind the tall grass. He turns to Ashton with a confused look on his face. "Did Calum forget his towel outside last night?"

Ashton shrugs, standing up to join Luke by the door. His gaze focuses in on the same colored towel Luke saw, and he's suddenly very curious.

"Shit," he hears from Luke. He watches as the younger boy quickly sets his cup of coffee down, unlocking the glass door and running outside. Ashton sets his own cup of coffee down, running after him, leaving the door open.

"What is it?!" he yells, but he immediately backtracks when he gets close enough to Luke, who is hunching over the towel.

Except, it's not just a towel. Calum is wrapped up inside, sound asleep. Luke shakes his shoulder, placing a hand on his cheek. "Calum?"

"Hmm?" Calum sleepily mumbles, his eyes opening slowly. He sits up and takes in his surroundings, a shy smile reaching his lips as he realizes what happened. "Oh."

"What are you doing out here?" Ashton asks, kneeling down to the other side of his friend. He can see Calum's normally dark skin is paler, and his lips are a scary shade of purple.

"Umm," Calum starts, but his eyes droop shut as his body slumps. "I was tired."

Luke has a guilty look on his face, and he picks Calum up with Ashton's help, and he carries him back inside in his arms. Calum's skin feels cold even through Luke's shirt, and Luke now feels even more guilty. Calum curls into Luke's chest as he carries him up the stairs and to his bedroom.

Luke carefully lays him on the made bed, pulling back the covers so he can get Calum inside. When he thinks Calum is nice and warm, he heads for the door to go talk to Ashton, but a timid voice stops him from leaving.

"Can you stay with me?" Calum asks, his brown eyes peeking out from under the duvet. "You're warm," he adds on, just like Luke said last night.

Luke nods and climbs under the covers, cuddling up to Calum. Calum his curled into himself, but allows Luke to wrap around him, giving him the warmth from his body. Luke finds himself starting to run his fingers through Calum's hair.

After a few minutes, Luke already thinks Calum's asleep again. Well, that is until he hears, "You left me."

And damn, if the world ending was to be blamed on one person, Luke would probably think it would hurt less for that than this.

 

The Girl Who Cried Wolf.

Calum wakes up a little while later to an empty bed and cold toes. He gets up and puts on some socks, not that it does much. He finds a warm outfit laid out for him, including long sleeves and sweatpants. He gets dressed in the and makes his way downstairs, where he finds Michael laying on his bed, still not made back into a couch, playing a game on his Gameboy.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," Michael greets him, pausing his game. He sits up, sliding out of bed to wrap his arms around Calum in a hug. "You feeling better?"

And really, Calum doesn't think he can answer that. He just feels numb, like maybe all the feeling left him last night. "I'm just cold," he gives as an answer.

Michael pulls away and walks over to the kitchen counter, where he starts making some more hot coffee for Calum. "There's a blanket in the closet. Go grab one, and we can cuddle on the couch."

Calum does as he's told, his socks sliding across the wooden floor. Once he's settled into the couch, Michael comes over with two mugs of coffee, handing one to Calum. He lifts up the blanket and curls into Calum's side, taking a sip of his coffee.

"What if I wanted that cup?" Calum asks, his finger poking out from underneath the blanket and pointing at Michael's coffee. Michael smiles.

"Too bad, I already took a sip."

"Are you saying you have cooties?" Calum jokes, moving his hand to grab Michael's mug. Michael pulls it away from him while laughing.

"Why? You want some?" Michael starts making kiss-y faces at Calum, who backs away, but can't really go far because of the arm of the couch blocking his way. Michael presses his lips to Calum's neck, causing him to laugh and almost spill his own coffee.

Once they get settled back into a nice cuddle, Calum drinks from his own cup, then rests his head on Michael's shoulder. Michael rests his head on Calum's hair, and they sit in silence, the only sound is the birds chirping outside. 

And somehow, with Calum's brain whirling in thought, he thinks the best time to bring it up is now. "Luke kissed me last night."

Calum feels Michael tense up, but he doesn't move from his spot. "Did you like it?" Michael asks quietly, barely above a whisper.

"Well, it wasn't really a kiss," Calum tries to explain. He lifts his head up and looks at Michael's face. "He just kind of . . ." he trails off, not really knowing how to explain it. He brings his fingers up to his lips, tracing them over his lips softly as if to replicate Luke's lips. "I don't know," he whispers.

Michael looks away from Calum, staring down at his coffee cup. He whispers again quietly, "did you like it?"

Calum pauses, thinking back to last night before he became an emotional mess. He remembers the feel of Luke's lips on his, remembers how they were soft. He remembers how they were also soft in the way that it was almost teasing. He remembers the stubble brushing his cheek as Luke pressed a kiss there.

"Yeah," Calum answers softly. "I did."

And Michael nods before taking a sip of his coffee, turning his head so that he can look out the window. Calum feels his heart sinking, but he doesn't know why.

 

Broken Home.

The windows are down as Luke and Ashton drive in silence, both in their own little worlds. They had went out to buy some food so that they could stock the fridge for their week out in the woods. They also bought a lot of heated food and drinks for Calum. They were on their way back to the cabin now.

"My mom called while you were upstairs with Calum," Ashton says. Luke turns to look at him, searching his face.

"Yeah? How is she?" he asks, knowing how close Ashton is with his mother.

"She's okay. She just had another fight with her husband, so she wanted to talk to me about that." Ashton's eyes don't leave the road, but Luke can see his grip tighten on the steering wheel. Luke prepares himself to listen to Ashton, knowing the older boy wants to talk about his problems without someone judging him.

"It's just that I've only met him a few times. I don't really know the guy. I know Mom likes him, she married him for God's sake. It's just, she's either calling to tell me 'happy birthday' or that she had another fight with him." Ashton pauses as he turns a corner, and suddenly their car is engulfed in trees on either side of the road. "Okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit. I just want her to be happy, you know?"

Luke knows. Ashton's father left when he was really young, so he had to grow up pretty fast to take care of his two younger siblings. He knows how hard it was on his mother to take care of three children at once, but she continued to date men so her children could at least have a little bit of a normal childhood, save for Ashton who just grew up without a father.

"Sometimes I just feel so useless," Ashton continues in a hushed voice. "I'm so far away and so busy all the time, I can't be there for her or Lauren or Harry physically."

"You're not useless," Luke stops his train of thought, knowing how it could take a wrong turn any moment. "You do the best you can. Your mother appreciates everything you do for her, and so do Lauren and Harry. They understand that you're in a growing band. They don't hold it against you."

Ashton pulls his bottom lip into his mouth before nodding his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The conversation ends there because Ashton turns a corner, and suddenly their pretty cabin is before them. "Do you think Calum's better?" Luke asks.

Ashton nods and starts getting out of the car. "He should be. Calum is too strong to let a little thing like hypothermia beat his ass."

 

Fly Away.

With Calum being a little bored of sitting around all day and a lot annoyed by his band coddling him, he got up and started exploring the different cabinets in the kitchen. As Luke moved around him while making dinner, carefully avoiding contact, Calum continued to open the cupboards, feeling extremely bored when he finds nothing but kitchen equipment. Well, what did he expect?

He decides to move on to the closet underneath the stairs. He flips on the light, and he immediately yelps in delight at his findings. He pulls out four board games, holding them up to the boys who looked over at his outburst.

"Game night?" Calum suggests.

Picking a game was easy. They had all agreed to play Clue, thinking they all had a chance of beating each other. The hard part was how not even half an hour later, Michael had opened the manila folder and guessed the crime scene correctly.

"You cheated!" Calum whined, rounding up all the cards for a game at a later date.

"Did not!" Michael laughs at his friends' angry looks. "I'm just a strategy master!"

"This game doesn't really involve strategy," Ashton argues. He starts helping Calum pack up the board.

"Yeah, it does. Tell him, Luke."

Luke scoffs at Michael. "The only reason I didn't win was because people kept guessing me into different rooms. Fuck you all. I hate this band."

"That's because you were the murderer," Calum reminds him. The group of boys starts laughing, and their friendly dispute subsides.

With the game all tucked away, Ashton picks out another game to play. Well, it was more of a process of elimination. He really didn't want to play Monopoly with Michael, the supposed "Master of Strategy." He also didn't really want to play Pictionary when Luke's drawings more often than not look like a two year old's who picked up a crayon for the first time. So he settled for Taboo, which probably wasn't any better than either Monopoly or Pictionary because, despite spending every living minute together, they still don't understand each other when it comes to trying to tell the other person what a word is without actually saying the word.

Even though there was a lot of "the thing that you hook up to the thing in the one place" and "you know, the thing that shows the thing when you do the thing," the boys still had a lot of fun as the night went on. It was almost like the world had stopped, and it was just the four best friends spending time together. It was almost like a paradise of their own.

 

Invisible.

The next day, when Calum wasn't feeling like his toes would fall off from frostbite anymore, he decided he'd spend his day swimming in the warm sun that the rest of his band had been avoiding. He ignored Ashton's protests and put on his swim trunks, inviting Ashton and Luke out for a swim, seeing as Michael was busy with another video game.

The two boys followed Calum outside, Luke because he figured he could use some sun too, and Ashton because he wanted to keep and eye on Calum. When the glass door slid shut, Michael finally looked up from his video game to see his friends walking towards the lake.

Michael thought he and his band members had a good time last night. He knows he had a good time, at least. So why wasn't he invited to go swimming?

As he watches his friends start play fighting, big grins on their faces, he feels his chest to start hurting. He knows what's coming, so he shuts his Gameboy and grabs a towel from the closet, walking into the bathroom. He shuts and locks the door behind him, his eyes trailing from the floor to the mirror and his reflection.

He takes in his appearance. His messy hair. His bushy eyebrows. The scruff along his jaw and over his top lip. His pale skin. He gets really self-conscious quickly, turning his gaze back to the floor. 

As he undresses, he glances at himself in the mirror, and he quickly looks away from what he sees. It's not that he doesn't like what he sees. It's just, he's walking on a very fragile line between low self-esteem and self-hatred. 

Michael turns on the shower, holding his hand out to feel it get warm. Once it's warm enough, he climbs inside, closing the glass door behind him. He's never liked glass doors, always afraid of someone walking in and seeing him like this. He's glad he locked the door.

His mind races as the water continues to grow warmer. His hands shake as he washes his body, refusing to look at any of his body parts, only doing it by feel. Sometimes he does this when it's especially bad.

Of course his friends wouldn't invite him to swim with them. He doesn't have the body for being shirtless. Why would his friends want to swim with someone who doesn't look good?

Michael thinks he's always last when it comes to his friends. He's the last one they come to talk to. He's the last one that gets picked to do fun things. He's the last one they call up when the others say no. Sometimes it takes a toll on him. Do they not want him around? Do they even remember him?

Michael doesn't realize it, but he's looking at his stomach, and suddenly he's angry. He's angry that he's always last. He's angry that he's not good enough for his friends. He's angry that he looks the way he does, that his body looks the way it does. And he doesn't notice, but he starts scratching his stomach.

With a storm inside his head, he's scratching at his stomach. It hurts, but he can't really register the pain. His chest hurts the most as he continues, his nails making his skin raw. Tears form in his eyes, and he's blinded, but he can't stop scratching. He's willing his stomach away, the part of him that stopped his friends from swimming with him. He's scratching it away, and he can't stop.

When he finally reaches up to wipe away the tears, his eyes burn, and so does his stomach. He feels a little queasy as he notices the red streaks of blood slowly being washed away by the almost scalding water pouring on his body. He didn't mean to scratch that hard, but he realizes there's nothing he can do as he watches the water turn pink at his feet.

His ears tune in once his mind is starting to clear up, and he finally notices the knocking on the door. "Michael?" he hears Calum ask. "Michael, I really have to pee. Can you open the door?"

And Michael panics for a second, turning off the hot water that's made his whole body red. He steps out of the shower, noticing the room is filled with steam. He wraps the towel around his stomach, not caring that it might look weird. He moves over to the door, finding his footfalls heavy as he has a hard time walking when he's kind of dizzy. 

When he opens the door, Calum steps back as he feels the heat from inside the small room. "Hot shower?" Calum asks, a little smile on his mouth.

Michael smiles back weakly, nodding his head. He steps outside, letting Calum into the bathroom. He turns his head to see Ashton and Luke sitting on the couch, the television facing them as they watch some show that's on.

Michael is tired of being last. 

 

Airplanes.

Calum knew it wouldn't be long into the band getaway that he'd be wanting to write music again. As the other boys were getting ready for bed, he pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil, making himself comfortable on his mattress.

He was swimming earlier when a song lyric came to his head, and he wanted to write it down before he lost it. He wrote the lyric at the top of the page, using it for reference as he went along.

You see, Calum loves writing music. He feels like he's pretty good at it. At the beginning of the band, he pretty much squeezed himself in, and then was expected to learn the bass. He eventually got the hang of it, and now there are music critics telling him he's a really good bassist. He tries not to let it get to his head.

What Calum really wants, though, is for someone to notice his writing. He's written or, at least, helped write most of the songs 5 Seconds of Summer have released, but no one really seems to notice. He's increasingly putting more and more feeling into his songs, and it's almost like they completely ignore that it's written by him.

All Calum wants is to write music that people can relate to, that people can call theirs as much as it is his. That's why, when writing, he makes it vague but also detailed enough to where it fits in a lot of emotion, but is easy to relate to. He just wants to be known as an amazing writer.

His hand moves freely and quickly as a song forms in his head. He finds himself humming the same tune over and over again, and he writes down the notes before that leaves his mind. As the night goes on, his lyrics get deeper and gradually, it feels like he's written all of his emotions on the piece of paper. He feels like his chest is cracked open again, and all of his jumbled up feelings are splattered on this poor piece of paper.

He sings through the song quietly, not wanting to wake up his friends. He feels that maybe these lyrics are a little too close to home, and maybe he shouldn't show anyone them. Nonetheless, he folds it neatly and sets it on his bedside table, proud of what he accomplished. 

He knows it's late at night, so he turns off his lights and climbs into bed, hoping he can show his band members his new song soon enough.

 

San Fransisco.

When Ashton finds a towel underneath Michael's bed, he doesn't think anything of it. He knows how messy his band mate can be sometimes. Besides, Ashton needs to do laundry anyway.

What really gets him is when he sees the dark red marks on the white towel. He almost drops the towel in surprise. His stomach drops as he sees something familiar in the way the red marks coat the towel.

With shaky hands, he hides the towel from the other two boys whom are eating cereal at the table by the kitchen. He walks over to Michael, who looks up sleepily at Ashton as he sits on the edge of his bed. As cautiously as he can be without freaking out Michael, he holds up the towel, and puts a finger to his lips to keep him quiet.

"Come outside with me," Ashton whispers, picking up another piece of Michael's clothing and putting it on top of the towel in the laundry basket. The blood drains from Michael's face as he nods, slowly moving from his spot on his bed, slipping on slippers as Ashton opens up the sliding door.

He follows him outside, shutting the door behind him. "Look, Ashton--"

Michael's cut off by Ashton picking up his wrists, turning them over. "Where are they?" He asks as he steps away, looking at Michael's bare legs. He looks at Michael expectantly, a worried look on his face.

"On my stomach," Michael answers quietly, watching as Ashton's eyes glance down to his belly covered by his shirt.

"Can I see?" Ashton asks, his hands meeting each other as they wait for a response. Michael nods and moves out of view from the glass door so that Luke and Calum won't see what Ashton is doing.

Ashton kneels on the ground, very carefully lifting up Michael's shirt so as to not hurt him. When he sees the dried blood, tears can't help but spring to his eyes. Why would his friend do this?

"I didn't mean to," Michael answers Ashton's unasked question. "I just started scratching, and I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late." He can't meet Ashton's eyes, and he looks anywhere but his stomach.

"What do you mean by scratching?" Ashton asks, running his fingers over the lines on Michael's stomach. He reaches up a hand and wipes his eyes before Michael realizes he's crying.

"I mean, uh," Michael has a hard time getting the words out, his chest moving up and down at a quicker pace as he tries to think of what to say. "I mean, like, hurting myself? Like, getting rid of . . ." Michael stops, not wanting to reveal to Ashton why he did it.

And suddenly, Michael is being enveloped in a hug, and he starts crying. He doesn't really understand why he's crying, there must be a reason at the very far back of his brain, but he can't think of it right now. All he can think about is how nice is feels to be hugged, to be cared for.

"God, I love you, Michael. You scare the shit out of me," Ashton pulls away and Michael notices the tears falling from his eyes too. Ashton wipes Michael's tears away with the pads of his thumbs, and Michael can't help but smile softly at Ashton being selfless in this situation. "Please don't hurt yourself again, okay? If you want to, just come find me. We'll talk it out. Do you promise?"

And Michael feels uneasy as he nods his head. "I promise." He doesn't want to feel like a burden on Ashton, but he doesn't want to make Ashton feel bad by saying no.

Ashton is hugging him again, this time giving him sloppy kisses on his cheek. The feeling of Ashton's wet lips on his skin makes Michael giggle and push him away. Ashton smiles at him before wiping his own eyes. "We can stay out here for a while so we don't look like we were just crying," Ashton offers, and Michael didn't even think about that.

To Michael's surprise, Ashton takes Michael's hand and intertwine their fingers. Michael has so many emotions going through him right now, but most of them are good.

As Michael looks from the side of Ashton's face out to the shiny lake underneath a clear blue sky and a golden sun, he thinks, yeah. Most of them are good.

 

Outer Space.

It's the last night before the band has to leave the cabin, and of course it's raining. Well, they shouldn't have expected clear skies for all of their stay.

Michael and Ashton are cuddled up in Michael's bed, which had remained a bed for the whole period of their stay. Michael seems to be falling asleep on Ashton's chest as Ashton plays with his fingers.

Ashton hasn't told Luke or Calum about Michael yet, but he's waiting for a time to ask Michael about it first. Ashton has been really careful about Michael's stomach, and he helped him clean it up in the bathroom while Luke and Calum were swimming the day before. It involved a lot of scrubbing and some swears on Michael's part, but they eventually got it cleared up to the point where the marks were barely even noticeable.

Ashton has also been a lot more attentive towards Michael. He finds himself staying in when Michael wants to stay in, and he makes food for Michael when he makes food for himself. He figures Michael should be annoyed with how Ashton is treating him, but it seems as though he's soaking it all up.

The last few nights, Ashton had shared a bed with Michael. It's not like he wasn't letting Michael out of his sight, it's just that, well, he felt like he needed to be there for Michael, especially if he had hurt himself even with all of them there. Michael didn't seem to mind, though. In fact, it was like he had wanted someone to cuddle with at night all along.

Luke was on his phone on the couch when Calum got up to make himself a snack. He started singing softly as he made some food for himself, finding whatever was left over in the fridge. Luke tuned in on the lyrics as the dark-skinned boy continued to sing in the kitchen.

"What song is that?" Luke asks as Calum sits back down next to him. "I've never heard it before."

Calum thinks of what he was just singing, and his eyes widen as he realizes it's his new song. "Um."

Michael opens his eyes, looking at Calum. "What is it?" he asks, now curious at Calum's hesitation. Ashton moves his hand in Michael's so their fingers are linked together. That's also been a common thing recently.

"It's just a little song I wrote," Calum admits shyly, looking between the two on the bed and Luke by his side. It's quiet as each of the boys think for a moment, relating the song to themselves.

"What's it about?" Ashton asks, his other hand moving from behind Michael's back, up to his hair.

Calum hesitates to answer this question too. His heart rate has picked up considerably. He decides that now, at the end of their trip when they're all together, would be a good time to tell them. "It's about us." He meets all of their eyes, not judging, not hating, just curious. "All of us."

It's quiet again until Michael speaks up first. "Come over here." He pats the part of the bed next to him.

Calum sheepishly leaves his food on the couch and pads over to the side of Michael's bed. Michael extends his arms, motioning for Calum to lay down with him. Calum crawls into the bed, getting arms wrapped around him from two different people.

Michael looks up and sees Luke smiling softly at them. "You, too, Lukey." And then all of them are cuddled up in the hideaway bed, Luke joining Ashton in a snuggle on his side.

"I think we should talk about this," Michael says, looking back at the pair behind him. He seems to be the voice of reason in this situation as he continues. "We've just been dancing around it without actually talking about it."

"Okay," Calum mumbles into Michael's chest. He sits up so that he can see all three of the boys in the bed. "I'll start."

The three nod encouragingly to Calum, who only shyly smiles back at them. "So, I guess I like all of you. Well, like is an understatement. I really like all of you. And I think, maybe, I could possibly love you." Calum clears his throat as his voice cracks, and he doesn't meet any of their eyes. "It's just, Luke is so pretty. And kind. And gentle." He turns his focus to Luke, who turns red at Calum's compliments. "And Ashton is so caring and full of sunshine, like, he literally lights up my world." And then Ashton is giving Calum that smile that makes his insides melt, the one that's just full of fondness. "And then Michael, who's boisterous but somehow isn't annoying, and he's beautiful and the most wonderful person." Michael seems to shrink beneath the covers. "And together, you're the three best people I know. And somehow I just fit in. I don't know how I could get so lucky to get you guys as my best friends, and I know I don't say that enough. You guys mean the world to me."

Three boys stare back at him with big smiles on their faces, and Luke responds first. "God, I couldn't have said it better myself. No wonder you're the best song writer." And if that didn't make Calum's heart flutter, he'd be lying.

"Go on and kiss Luke," Michael laughs. "The sexual tension is horrible."

"You told him?!" Luke blurts out, but he doesn't look like he minds because he's laughing too. He just pulls Calum forward, and then they're kissing, except a proper kiss this time, and Calum's remembering all over again, except better.

The kiss doesn't last long because Michael and Ashton burst into a fit of giggles, causing the other two to do so as well. Soon they're all laying in the bed, arms wrapped around each other and feet tangled together.

Michael kisses Calum's lips softly once he settles down, and pulls away just as quickly as he started. "Give him one for me too," Ashton says, and Michael laughs before giving Calum another kiss, resting their foreheads together.

The rainy day is spent watching movies all snuggled up in bed, with occasional kisses that no one else knows about. But that's exactly how they wanted it to be. It was perfect.

Carry On.

Michael sat on the grass by the lake in the morning of the next day. It was early, so he was still tired, but he had already finished his packing. The birds were chirping in the trees as Michael watched the water ripple peacefully, reflecting the morning sunlight peeping through the green leaves. He regrets not spending more time out here now that it's time to leave.

Michael gets lost in his own thoughts until someone sits down next to him. He turns his head and finds Luke looking out at the lake.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" he asks, turning to look at Michael. "I wish we could stay longer." He looks back at the lake, and Michael is taken aback by his beauty. He looks at Luke to etch the image in his brain, and then rests his head on Luke's shoulder.

Luke takes Michael's hand in his own, and their fingers lace together automatically. Michael feels the peaceful setting soothe him as he closes his eyes and just listens to his surroundings.

It must have been a while because Michael's being woken up by his head being lifted and small kisses being pressed to his lips. He slowly opens his eyes, Luke's pretty blue ones looking back at him. Luke smiles as he runs a thumb over Michael's cheek. "Hey, sleepyhead." He kisses Michael's forehead. "Ashton just told me we have to leave."

Michael sighs, but lets Luke help him up anyway. "But I want to stay here forever," he whines.

"C'mon, I'll give you a piggy back ride if you agree to come back with your new boyfriends."

And really, how can Michael say no to that?

It's not until all of them have their suitcases packed in the car and are staring back at the cabin that something like sadness settles over them. "This was a fun week. I'm going to miss this place," Calum speaks all of their minds.

It's not the cabin they're especially going to miss. It's the memories they've made, whether good or bad. This cabin took a part of them and their story, whether the people that live in it next will know it or not.

"It's not like this is the last time we'll do something like this," Ashton points out, taking Calum's hand and opening the door for him on the passenger side. Once he climbs inside, Ashton leans over and kisses him quickly, erupting in a fit of giggles when Calum pulls him inside.

Michael looks away from the two, nodding at Luke before attempting to get in the car. He's pulled back by the arm and then Luke is trying to kiss him, but ultimately failing as Michael wriggles away. "C'mon, Michael," he laughs, kissing the older boy's ear. "We have to be cute like Ash and Cal!" 

Michael laughs and climbs inside the car, letting Luke in behind him. Luke finally gets his kiss when he uses his hand to turn Michael's face around, pulling him in for a sweet kiss. Their noses brush together as Luke pulls away, his eyes crinkling as he smiles at Michael.

"This band is going to kill me," Michael announces as Ashton gets in the driver's seat.

And as they drive away, their last longing glances at the cabin, they realize that nothing's changed. Not really. Some part of them wasn't left at the cabin. Sure, there may have been footprints in the grass or a coffee stain on the counter, but it's not like they couldn't make those things somewhere else.

It was more like they had taken a part of the cabin. The cabin was always with them whenever they looked at each other. It was where they got together. It was a cabin of new beginnings.

And as they got back into their hectic lifestyle, where they had to hide their loving glances and their sweet little kisses, they realized that life doesn't have to stop when you leave something behind. Life didn't have to stop when they left their friendship behind. Instead, they received something amazing, even more beautiful.

And they were reminded by it every day they came home from a long day of interviews, or every day they got off stage and saw their best friends smiling back at them. They were reminded that even if Ashton's family was still struggling, and Michael still had some issues with self-esteem, and Calum still wasn't as noticed as the other boys, and Luke was maybe just there for a shoulder to cry on, they would still have something amazing and beautiful everywhere they went.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think!


End file.
